Well, another day, another stomping at the hands of the worst team in the west (though that may not be the case for long at this rate). Everything pretty much remained the status quo. The Avs let in four unanswered goals through the first two periods, the first two being power play goals. Every one was the result of some sort of defensive misplay or breakdown yet it would have been nice to see Brian Eliott make a big save or two. Down 2-0 after the first, the Avs put twenty shots on net in the second yet were only able to come up with one goal - after the Oilers had scored two more of their own. That one goal was scored by Ryan O'Reilly, which was nice, and assisted on by David Jones, who continues to be a bright spot, and John-Michael Liles who broke his previous season high for assists with thirty six. I suppose that if the Avs are going to tank they might as well tank like champs but at the moment its hard to extract any enjoyment from these games at all.  

That felt good. The Avs ended their likely season-killing ten game losing streak in a game that had all the drama one could hope for. Players scored against their former teams and mixed it up against former teammates. It was very refreshing to actually enjoy an Avalanche game.

The Avalanche dominated the game during the first ten minutes or so. Returning from injury, it was Matt Duchene that was really pushing the play. He made quite a few gorgeous plays including an outstanding pass to Matt Hunwick who just missed scoring. It was David Jones that scored the first goal, however. Paul Stastny took advantage of a miscue by the Blues at their own blueline and stole the puck. He streaked in and passed it perfectly to Jones for the tip in. With Chris Stewart gone, I think Jones has become nearly indispensable to this team. He has really impressed me during this horrid streak by continuing to score goals as the rest of the offense floundered. Milan Hejduk scored the next goal on the power play, whacking the puck out of midair and taking another swipe at it to send it by Ty Conklin. The Blues responded well and controlled play for most of the rest of the period. They cut the Avs lead in half when Alexander Steen made a great pass to T.J. Oshie, who had whipped around Erik Johnson. Ryan Wilson had to leave his man to try and negate Oshie which left Patrik Berglund free to slap in the rebound. Pretty play by the Blues.

The second period saw a lot of rushes and open nuetral zone play but it was mostly the Blues who had any sustained offensive pressure. The highlight of the period for the Avs was killing off a minute length 5 on 3 with Hunwick and Jay McClement in the box. It was a great kill but tainted by the fact that they gave up a goal during the remainder of Hunwick's penalty. And who better to give it up to than Stewart. He did what I had visions of him doing for years with the Avalanche. Namely, parking his ass in front of the opposing goalie and tipping home a point shot. And who was it that shot that point shot? Kevin Shattenkirk. That stung, I have to say. The Avs just about managed to regain the lead at the end of the second. Shattenkirk pushed Brandon Yip into Conklin to earn himself an interference penalty. Yip took his time getting up off Conklin, giving Ryan O'Byrne a shot at an open net. A Blues defender managed to get in the way, though, and the period ended in a tie. 

I was pretty nervous entering the third period and really hoping the Avs would respond to Stewart and Shattenkirk combining to score the tying goal. That they did was great to see. It did take quite a while for the Avs to score, though, and credit must be given to Peter Budaj for keeping the Avs in it. I'll be really sad to see him go if he does because, though he doesn't have the skills to be a starter, his compete level has never been in question. At any rate, if I could have picked a player to score the next goal, I would have picked the man who did. Johnson intercepted a bobbled pass and sent a snap shot past Conklin. Shortly, thereafter, Stastny restored the Avs two goal lead by intercepting another pass in the Blues zone and sending a backhand shot over Conklin's shoulder. Less than a minute later, with the goalie pulled surprisingly early, Andy McDonald pulled the Blues within one, flipping the puck on net with Stewart mixing it up in front. The Avs weathered the rest of the storm though and hung on for the win.

Game Notes:

• The first penalty of the game was on Stewart when he tripped up Stastny away from the play. It looked like it might have been retaliatory on the replay. I'd be interested to know what they were saying to each other.
  
• Yip had an effective game despite not scoring. He drew two penalties and generally seemed to be getting under the skin of the Blues players.
  
• John-Michael Liles was good both defensively and offensively with two assists. I think the acquisition of Johnson will help him since he won't be expected to go up against other team's top lines.
  
• Apparently, Stefan Brian Elliott could be joining the team as early as next game against Edmonton.

• Stoa, Stastny, Jones
• Yip, Duchene, Hejduk
  
• Porter, McClement, Winnik
• McLeod, Dupuis, O'Reilly

• Johnson,Wilson
• Liles, O'Byrne
  
• Hunwick, Holos
  

The Avs face the Oilers tomorrow.

I don't really know what to say here. This may just be the nadir of the Avalanche as an organization to this point. The worst losing streak in team history and now the most goals ever given up by the team in a single game. Compounded by the fact that one of the best and most loved players ever to play abruptly retired after a too short comeback. What a miserable day.

As for the game, the Flames started off quick, scoring eighteen seconds in, and just kept rolling. Everything was atrocious tonight for the Avs. Luck played a part but the team is just incapable of playing defense.  Goaltending was bad. Budaj tried but caught some bad breaks and had a poor game. Anderson doesn't even seem to care anymore. The Flames weren't even trying after the first and still managed to score four more. Sacco doesn't seem to have any answers, pulling Budaj twice and Anderson once. He also called a timeout after Calgary went up 3-0, which accomplished nothing. Winnik scored the lone goal when Porter's pass bounced off him.

A couple of notes:  Dupuis was ejected for a knee on knee hit but it didn't look like an attempt to injure to me. I doubt he'll be suspended. Duchene injured his wrist. Not sure how bad it was but he went to the locker room right after he sustained it and didn't come back.

Well. The Avalanche have now gone two full games without scoring a goal. It's hard to point at exactly what the problem is. Certainly they aren't catching any breaks but they also aren't creating the chances they were earlier in the season. For some reason the chemistry that powered them before has deserted them. Another problem is the lack of shots. Down two in the third period, having not scored in five periods, you would think that the Avs would absolutely pepper the opposing goalie with shots. Instead they had 12. Not horrible certainly (though the 26 for the game is less than stellar) but where is the desperation? The Avs look like a defeated team every time they go down by even a single goal. Remember that game when the Avs where behind 3-1 to San Jose entering the third? They came back like it was no big deal. I miss that team.

A few players on the Avs did have a decent game. Brandon Yip continued to standout, among other things creating one of the few odd man rushes and forcing Ilya Bryzgalov to make one of his few good saves. John-Michael Liles blew his coverage on Radim Vrbata which led to the first goal but he tried to make up for it in the offensive zone. Matt Hunwick had a team high five shots on net and wasn't bad in his own zone. Craig Anderson wasn't bad but he wasn't great either. The first goal was a pass to a wide open Vrbata, the second goal was a whiffed shot that turned into a perfect pass to Scottie Upshall for a roof shot and the third bounced off the backboard and right onto Vrbata's stick for an easy tap in. None of them were his fault really but it would have been great to see him keep one of them out.

Maybe Peter Forsberg will help them turn it around but it's getting harder and harder to see this team make the playoffs.

• Hejduk, Duchene, Stewart
• Porter, Stastny, Jones
  
• Galiardi, O'Reilly, Winnik
• McLeod, Dupuis, Yip
  

• Liles, O'Byrne
• Shattenkirk, Hunwick
• Wilson, Foote

Well, the Avs are going on the road and, at this point, that can only be considered a good thing. Obviously, the Avs have to be feeling the pressure to start winning again and home ice isn't the best place to try and forget that pressure and just start playing. Their record on the road isn't spectacular (11-8-3) but thanks to this disastrous run of games at home, the Avs are going to have to win on the road if they want to make it into the playoffs. One thing the Avs do seem to be good at on the road, especially in comparison to home, is the penalty kill--as anyone who has watched a game with the Altidudes commentating on should be well aware. That might be coincidence more than anything but, hey, maybe it'll give the pkers a little confidence. Unfortunately, the other reason for optimism, Forsberg will not be playing tonight but theoretically the Avs have a few other offensive weapons. It would be nice to see Stastny or Duchene dominate a game, not to mention a certain Chris Stewart. 

Phoenix is in the same dogfight for the final five playoff spots in the West as the Avs though they sit in better position than the Avs. Part of the reason for that is they beat the Avs in two demoralizing games at the Pepsi Center this January. It'd be nice to return the favor, I think. Interestingly enough, Phoenix is led offensively by two defensemen, Keith Yandle and Ray Whitney. Shutting them down will be key if the Avs want to win this game. Another interesting fact is that the Coyote's scored more goals in their last game against Colorado (5) than in the three games since (4). Hopefully facing the Avs isn't exactly what the Coyotes need to get rolling offensively again.

Here's hoping that the Avs start this road trip of right. Let's go Avs!

This the first period of this game was an absolutely miserable period of hockey, both by the Avalanche and in general. I can't stand when a period is racked by penalties like this one was. Every borderline infraction was called (most by the same ref if I'm not mistaken) and most of the period was played by special teams. That turns the funnest sport in the world to watch into an exercise in tedium. Partially because they were on the PK half the period, the Avs could not get anything going. They had a whole one shot on net...but it did go in. During an early 4 on 4, Ryan Stoa scored his second of the season on a snap shot that squeezed its way through Ilya Bryzgalov. That was about all Avs fans had to cheer about for the rest of the period. Scottie Upshall scored a couple minutes later on a nice shot that beat Peter Budaj clean, top shelf, glove side. Kieth Yandle scored the next goal on another 4 on 4. John-Michael Liles pinched letting Phoenix get out on a 2 on 1. Liles himself rushed back to negate that but a hustling Yandle turned it back into an oddman rush. Yandle had all sorts of time to pick his spot and blasted it in off the far post. Budaj was pulled after this, presumably to shake things up. Phoenix dominated the rest of the period anyway.   

And...you know what? Fuck this game. I did the write up for the first during the first intermission but by the second intermission I done with this game. So I'm going to go fast. Eric Belanger scored because Adam Foote is old. The Avs played much better despite spending six of the first ten minutes on the PK, putting up a total of 19 shots. Bryzgalov was great and helped by the refs allowing Phoenix to knock the net off its moorings on purpose twice. Start of the third. Avs try really hard to score but can't. Kyle Turris scored on an odd man rush after Andy got snow sprayed in the face by Upshall. Andy was pissed but the refs didn't call anything. Matt Duchene scores on a nice play, using his speed to beat the defender and getting the shot off faster than Bryz expected. He went to fist pump but aborted it. Sad way for him to get his twentieth goal of the season and hundredth NHL point. Sacco pulls Andy with two minutes left to go. Belanger scores the empty net goal.

I hope the Avs come out after the All Star break with a chip on their shoulder as the hockey pundits are so fond of saying because this season seems to be teetering on the brink of disaster.

Game Notes:

• Jones fell and hurt himself. Hopefully it's not bad news.
  
• Bryzgalov's save percentage at the end of the first was .000. McNab said that it was a record.
  

I think these were the lines Sacco planned on. They got messed up with all the special teams.

• Jones, Duchene, Hejduk
  
• Stoa, Stastny, Yip
• McLeod, Dupuis, Stewart
• Winnik, Galiardi, Koci

• Liles, O'Byrne
  
• Shattenkirk, Wilson
• Cumiskey, Foote

You can watch Paul Stastny, Matt Duchene and Kevin Shattenkirk this weekend at the NHL All Star weekend. Next game for the Avs is Tuesday against the Blues.

I haven't seen the Bruins play much this year so I was surprised that they were both willing and able to play at the pace the Avs like. Both teams were flying through the neutral zone and hitting hard early after being chastised by their respective coaches for being "flat" on Thursday. The Avs got the first goal thanks to some bounces. Kevin Shattenkirk fired it from the point and it bounced of Paul Stastny, parked in front of the net, and then off Dennis Seidenberg and into the net. So that's how you beat Tim Thomas, huh? Boston only revved up their game after that and started hitting the Avs and peppering Craig Anderson with shots. They tied it up when Mark Recchi fired the puck off John-Michael Liles and it bounced into Ryan O'Byrne and Brad Marchand and past Anderson. A couple minutes later, O'Byrne took a delay of game penalty. The Avs were victim of another bunch of crazy bounces that turned around Anderson and put the puck right of Milan Lucic's stick for an easy goal. The Bruins owned the rest of the period, getting another power play (ROB again, disaster of a period for him) and finishing with a total of 19 shots. The Avs were lucky escape only down by one.

The second period saw the start of the Bruins playing some of the most perfect lead-protecting play I've seen. The Avs pushed the play as much as they could but Boston was all over them, crowding puck carriers and getting in shooting and passing lanes. When the Avs did get a good chance, Thomas was there to stop it. And when they got a chance to extend their lead, they didn't miss it. The Avs gave up two 2 on 1's during the period and the B's scored on both. Marchand and Recchi face Liles on the first one. This one was misplayed in my opinion. Anderson came out to challenge Marchand so aggressively that he had no chance of making a save if Recchi got it. Yet Liles didn't focus on taking the pass away but tried to put pressure on Marchand. Marchand passed it, of course, and Recchi scored one of the easiest goals in his extended career. Either Liles or Andy has to play that one different because the way they played it guaranteed the goal. The next goal wasn't anybody's fault especially. David Krejci and Lucic just played in perfectly with Looch getting the goal. It would have been nice if Andy saved it but it was a nice shot. Other highlights of the period include Marc Savard taking another headshot, this one inadvertent by Matt Hunwick along the boards. Chris Stewart also had a penalty called on him even though the ref who called it had his back turned to the play when the alleged penalty happened. Even the Altidudes made a comment about it.    

Sacco had Peter Budaj start the third period but he didn't get much work for a while as the Avs generated a lot of pressure during the first five minutes. Shattenkirk flipped a backhand on net that slipped by Thomas and gave the Avs some life. The goal sure didn't shake Thomas up any though because he was fantastic for the next few minutes, stonewalling the Avs on a ton of chances, especially during a power play they looked very good on. But the energy slowly drained out of them as they couldn't get one past Timmy and the Bruins scored the next one. Patrice Bergeron slid one on net from his knees that bounced in off Liles' skate. The game slowed down after that. Seidenberg took a double minor for high sticking and Sacco pulled Budaj. The Avs tried to get something going 6 on 4 but Marchand scored an empty net goal. Cody McLeod thought he scored with fifteen seconds to go but it was waved off because of intent to blow. And just like that, the Avs have lost their playoff spot. Minnesota and San Jose play each other today and both sit only one point back of the Avs.

Game Notes:

• Kyle Cumiskey will be having nightmares about Thomas I think. Twice he was alone in front of Thomas with a potentially game changing goal on his stick and twice Thomas stoned him. 
  
• Brutal game for Liles and ROB who were a combined -6. Seeing as they are the only decent defense pair for the Avs, when they play bad it's going to be tough for the Avs to win.
  
• Stastny scored his 100th goal for the Avs.

• Jones, Stastny, Stewart
• Stoa, Duchene, Hejduk
  
• Porter, Galiardi, Winnik
• Koci, Dupuis, McLeod
  

• Liles, O'Byrne
  
• Shattenkirk, Hunwick
• Cumiskey, Foote

The Avs play the Blues on Monday.

So. Last game the Avs were throttled by a defensive team with a hot goalie. But today, luckily, they face...what's that? A better defensive team with an even hotter goalie? Oh good. After last year's underwhelming season, capped off with the disaster against Philadelphia in the playoffs, Boston has bounced back to being one of the better teams in the East. Tim Thomas, in particular, is having one hell of a season after being written off as Tuuka Rask's backup during the summer. He is leading the league with a .945 save percentage, a 1.83 GAA and seven shutouts. Of course, he has plenty of help from the monstrous Zdeno Chara and the rest Boston's Hunwick-less defensive corps. Surprisingly, Boston's offense has also been pretty good, sitting at seventh in the league despite Marc Savard only putting up 10 points in 24 games. 

There are a lot of players to watch on the Avs today. T.J. Galiardi might be making his return to the lineup after his comically short trip down to Lake Erie. If so, hopefully he'll impress Sacco enough to stay. Matt Hunwick might also be in one way or another. If he is and he doesn't show any fire against his old team, I might write him off completely. Ryan Stoa is still trying to make his mark. Craig Anderson will hopefully have a bounce back game. I'm always eager for a Brandon Yip sighting. But the person I'm most hoping to see a big game out of is Chris Stewart. He's had a few games to get back into the swing of things now. With Flash going down, it's essential that that Stewie get back to his goal scoring ways and soon. No time to waste with Minnesota and San Jose (depressing season for them, huh?) nipping as the Avs heels.

Hopefully this will be an entertaining game. We only get to see Boston once a year after all. The Avs should be jazzed up since they get to practice with Peter Forsberg during their morning skate. Matt Duchene certainly seemed excited enough on his twitter page.

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Avs Line Combos

The Avs started strong again and forced Jimmy Howard to come up with a few big saves early. The Avs drew first blood thanks to Milan Hejduk knocking the puck off a Detroit defender's stick to a wide open Paul Stastny who didn't miss. Detroit managed to tie it up less than a minute later with everyone's favorite new defenseman as the main culprit. First, Matt Hunwick turned over the puck to Detroit's forecheck, never a good sign, and then he lost Jan Mursak in front of the net. Mursak collected the puck and slid it around Peter Budaj. Fortunately, the next ten minutes belonged to the Avalanche. First, Tomas Fleischmann took a hit to spring Matt Duchene, who turned on the jets and slipped a quick shot through Howard's legs. Greg Mauldin drew a penalty when he was hit away from the play and a few seconds after it ended, Kevin Porter scored an entertaining goal. He whiffed on a shot from the slot and took another slap at it, sending it weakly wide of the net. Luckily it bounced off Jonathan Ericsson's skate (fresh out of the box) and into the net. Just a couple minutes after that, David Jones took a big hit to spring Duchene and Fleischmann on a two on one. Dutchy and Flash played the passing game perfectly and Duchene got an easy goal (I do so hope he is turning into a Detroit killer). This led to Howard getting pulled. Which is hilarious.

The Wings are not a team to stay on their heels for long though and started to turn up the pressure in the last five minutes. Ryan O'Reilly got called for a weak goaltender interference call and Budaj had to make three very nice saves to kill it. But a defensive zone turnover after the penalty again gave Detroit a goal. Darren Helm pressured Adam Foote and knocked the puck loose. He passed it out to Brian Rafalski who walked into the slot and whistled one by Budaj. Finally, Duchene almost got his first NHL hat trick thanks to a great rush with Jones. Jones carried the puck up the ice, two on two with Duchene and muscled his way by the Detroit defenders while Duchene slipped past, creating a 2 on 0. Jones passed and Duchene deked around Joey MacDonald but the Detroit goalie got lucky when the puck hit his skate and then the post and bounced out. Phew. Damn fun period of hockey.   

Contrary to my expectations, the Avs controlled play for the first part of the second period. Nicklas Lidstrom was out trying to slow the tide for much of the first eight minutes or so. It was to no avail though, as the Avs scored the next goal. The Red Wings managed to get a 3 on 2 going but Kris Draper missed his shot and it hit the backboards hard enough to bounce it out of the zone. Duchene and a hustling Jones got another 2 on 1, this time with Duchene making the pass and Jones dekeing MacDonald (who played it horribly) but Jones didn't miss. This seemed to wake up Detroit and they started playing much better. Budaj made a couple of big saves including one against Todd Bertuzzi that was probably more luck than skill but still very satisfying. But Colorado took a penalty and are still absolutely terrible on the kill. Budaj tried to cover the puck after stopping a point shot but Tomas Holmstrom poked  it out of his glove and Henrik Zetterberg tapped it in. After that the game slowed down a little and Colorado ended the period basically in the same position they started it.

The Red Wings controlled play right from the beginning of the third period, outshooting the Avs 5 to 0 in the first five minutes. The Avs took a stupid too many men penalty which led to Sacco looking as pissed as I've ever seen him. Detroit, of course, made them pay. O'Reilly lost his stick which allowed Zetterberg to get set up for a point shot. Our old friend Holmstrom was planted in front of the net as always and tipped it under Budaj's glove. Detroit continued to pour it on for the rest of the period but a combination of luck, some great play by Budaj and the third line, the Avalanche managed to hold on for a 5-4 win. I don't think it can be understated what a huge win this was. The Avs really, really needed a win to close out this home stand and getting it against Detroit with some great offense was fantastic. Hopefully this sends the Avs on a streak to get some breathing room in the West.

Game Notes:

• John-Michael Liles knocking Holmstrom on his ass when he was hacking at Budaj was fantastic to see.
  
• Budaj's 26 saves on 30 shots might not look great on the face of it but I don't think he can be faulted for any of the goals and he made some enormous saves.
  
• Nik Lidstrom was a -3 tonight. How often does that happen?
• Sacco limited Hunwick's TOI to 13:41 tonight. Maybe there will finally be consequence for his poor play? On the other hand, he limited Jonas Holos to 11:03. Why?
• Jones was frigging awesome tonight. Duchene got the first star but I think it should have been Jones. 
• Fleischmann pushing on Jones to send him past Rafalski before his 2 on 1 goal was great.

• Porter, Stastny, Hejduk
• Fleischmann, Duchene, Jones
  
• Galiardi, O'Reilly, Winnik
• Yip, Dupuis, Mauldin
  

• O'Byrne, Liles
  
• Foote, Wilson
• Holos, Hunwick
  

Chicago is up next. Think the Avs can sweep the season series?

The Avs, obviously frustrated about last game, came out hard. Milan Hejduk opened the scoring, snapping home a rebound after T.J. Galiardi tipped Adam Foote's shot on net. A minute later, Ryan O'Byrne took a shot from the point that bounced in off of David Koci's knee. Two goals in less than two minutes to start the game on a goalie getting his first NHL start. Should be an easy win, right? Of course not. The Islanders started to put on some pressure and were helped out be a couple of whistle happy refs. On the Islander's first power play, Peter McNab mentioned that Avs penalty kill problems were over. Cue the Islanders scoring on the power play all damn night. Jeremy Colliton scored his first goal of the season, gathering up a loose puck and sliding it in. The Avs got the next power play but were only on it for four seconds before Jones took another penalty. The Avs managed to kill off the ensuing four second power play for the Isles but Hunwick quickly took another. Blake Comeau took a slap shot from the top of the circle that blew by Craig Anderson and into the far corner. Second power play goal for the Isles, tie game. The Avs, mostly Ryan O'Reilly's line, turned on the pressure to end the period but Kevin Poulin kept his cool and kept the puck out of the net. Fairly impressive for giving up two goals in the first two minutes of his first NHL start.

Hoo boy. The Avs come out looking a little down and O'Reilly takes kind of a bogus penalty and the Islanders capitalize again. Foote and Ryan Wilson got out of position, leaving Colliton alone in front of the net. He out waited Anderson and snapped in an easy one. Joe Sacco called a smart timeout after this. The Avs controlled the play through the rest of the period as the Islanders were content to sit back and clog the neutral zone. The Avs did have a few good scoring chances, mostly coming from the third and forth line. Koci had his best shift as an Av and came close to scoring his second of the game. For the most part though, the Isles tactic of slowing down the Avs worked well and Poulin was good when he had to be. Made for a boring period.

The third period picked up just where the the second left off. The Islanders sat back and played defensive hockey against the Avs who had problems getting anything going. The Avs did have a burst about five minutes into the period and managed to draw a power play which they looked pretty good on. Poulin was strong again though and the Avs didn't manage to score. As the period wound down, the Avs started to look pretty tired. Sacco had the top two lines as well as John-Michael Liles, Matt Hunwick and Kevin Shattenkirk out quite bit during the period. The Isles started to get some chances including a 2 on 1 in which John Tavares was stoned by Anderson. Sacco pulled Anderson with nearly two minutes to go but it looked like the Avs were gonna fall in regulation until Kevin Porter made one of the best plays of the game and successfully carried the puck end to end and around the back of the net. He slid it to Shattenkirk for a one-timer which bounced around in front of the net to Hejduk who backhanded it in with four seconds left. Lucky.

The Avs got one point out of this game but it wasn't hard to see that they were going to have problems in over time. Tavares schooled Shattenkirk and Anderson to score the game winner.

Game Notes:

• Despite getting a point Shattenkirk had a rough game. I noticed that he played a lot better when he was out with JML instead of Hunwick.
• ROB and Koci both played some of their best hockey for the Avs.
  
• Why won't the Altiboobs shut the hell up about the Avs penalty kill?
  
• Third line should have been out more in the third.

• Galiardi, Stastny, Hejduk
  
• Fleischmann, Duchene, Jones
  
• Winnik, O'Reilly,Yip
• Koci, Dupuis, Porter
  

• Liles,O'Byrne
• Shattenkirk, Hunwick
• Wilson, Foote

Avs take on Detroit on Monday. Joy.

The Sens scored a little over two minutes in on a bad Avs defensive breakdown. Erik Karlsson waltzed down the slot and sent a laser shot past Anderson, top corner. But then motherf*cking Galiardicus decided to let the Pepsi Center know he was back. T.J. Galiradi first drove the net, roughed up Brian Elliott a bit and pulled defenders out of position. Kevin Shattenkirk got it along the blueline and immediately sent a perfect shot towards the net which Galiardi tipped in. However, the Sens came right back when Matt Hunwick gave it away to Ryan Shannon. Shannon drew Hunwick, Craig Anderson, and Adam Foote's attention before passing it to Milan Michalek for the easy tap in. The Avs got one great chance to tie it up when Shattenkirk backhanded the puck to the net, Elliott knocked out a juicy rebound for Ryan O'Reilly but managed to recover in time to make a nice save. Both teams got power plays late but wasted them. Overall, it was a pretty slow-going even period with the goals coming off defensive mistakes. Shots at the end of one 7 to 5 in favor of the Sens.

The first ten minutes of this period were kind of blah. The Avs had a couple of good chances, Greg Mauldin's breakaway being the best and the Sens had a couple of good chances including a power play. The Avs didn't really get anything going until after Joe Sacco called a timeout. He soon sent out Matt Duchene to skate with Phillippe Dupuis and Cody McLeod. They generated some good pressure and thanks to a little help from a nice John-Michael Liles wrister, McLeod knocked in his forth of the season. The Sens quickly took the lead again when goon defenseman Matt Clarkner scored his first of the season, a slapper that beat Anderson shortside.  John-Michael Liles drew two penalties in a goddamn row to give the Avs a minute and a half 5 on 3. JML put it on net and Duchene collected th puck at the side of the net and roofed it. The Sens almost took another lead shorthanded but Jason Spezza lost the puck after dekeing the hell out of Andy. Shots at the end of two, 21-18 in favor of the Sens.    

The Avs took their first lead of the game a couple minutes into the third period when Dupuis threw the puck to the front of the net and both Kevin Porter and Brandon Yip took swings at it until it went in with Yip Porter eventually getting credit for the goal. Then the Sens got a 5 on 3 of their own and tied it up on a scramble in front of the net, Alex Kovalev Spezza getting credit for it. The teams settled down after that, both waiting for the other team to make a mistake. It was the Avs who made one first. Nick Foligno picked off a pass and rushed the zone with Daniel Alfredsson, only poor ineffectual Hunwick back to defend. Foligno passed it easily to Alfie who scored easily despite Anderson stacking the pads old school. The Avs came back again though with O'Reilly continuing to regain his offensive touch. He rushed the zone with Daniel Winnik and picked the far corner with a very nice shot. Regulation ended in a tie. Both teams were flying in OT trying to get the winning goal but it was eventually Duchene who got the winner. He flew in from center ice, blasted by the Sens defenders and ripped it into the net. God damn that was an entertaining game.

Game Notes:

• I mentioned that Liles should be wearing an A while Foote was out a while ago and now with both Stastny and Hejduk out he got the chance. In response, he had one of his best games in one of his best seasons.
  
• Duchene is a monster. With Stewart, Stastny and Hejduk out, the spotlight was squarely on his shoulders and he delivered. His linemates were less than stellar though. David Jones has been invisible the last few games.
  
• Spezza proved Mark Rycroft's statement calling him a 'wimp' absolutely true. Besides the almost shortie, the only time I noticed him all night was when he laid a sneaky elbow on Dupuis during a scrum after the whistle.
  
• I am not a fan of Hunwick. He's not atrocious but he doesn't seem to add anything.
  
• Another showcase of the Avs scoring talent but Brian Engblom is right when he says the Avs have to work on their defense or it'll come back to haunt them.
• Do the Avs have the best scouts or what? Hundreds of man games lost to injury this season and still the most goals per game of any team in the league.

• Fleischmann, Duchene, Jones
• Porter, Galiardi, Yip
• Mauldin, O'Reilly, Winnik
• McLeod, Dupuis, Koci

• O'Byrne, Liles
• Shattenkirk, Wilson
• Hunwick, Foote

The Avs face Montreal on Sunday. The Habs are pretty damn good this year thanks in large part to Carey Price. Should be a good one.

Silver Seven

The Lightning came out hard in the first, obviously embarrassed about the 8-1 drubbing at the hands of the Bruins. They had the Avs hemmed in their zone early and often but Peter Budaj kept the Avs in the game, including making one hell of a save on Pavel Kubina on the tail end of a power play (by the way, Dominic Moore flying to the ice off a little push by Kyle Quincey was exceedingly lame). But he couldn't do it forever and Tampa took the lead when a bad bounce put the puck on Nate Thompson's stick right in the slot. The only Avs line that was going in the first period was the Philippe Dupuis, Brandon Yip, Cody McLeod. They were the only line to get any good zone time before the last few minutes and Dupuis got a goal, putting a soft shot on net that sneaked by Dan Ellis. Matt Hunwick got his first Avalanche point assisting on the goal. Late in the period, the Avs got a 5 on 3 for 30 seconds. The worst excuse I've seen for a 5 on 3 in some time. The Avs had problems entering the freaking zone. The Avs escaped into the second with a 1-1 tie. Shots at the end of 1, 9-5 in favor of the Lightning.

The Avs wasted their power play to start the period and Tampa took the lead with a soft goal of their own. Martin St. Louis threw a back hand on net that went five-hole on Budaj even though he saw it all the way. Less than a minute later, Mattias Ritola corralled a rebound in the slot and put it over the prone Budaj. Ugh. Matt Duchene restored a little hope when he slapped at a rebound until it went in after Tomas Fleischmann hit the post. That was also Fleischmann's first Avalanche point. Quincey then took a very stupid penalty while the Avs were already on the kill. I think it was kind of weak call but what he did is consistently called a slash in today's NHL. The Lightning showed the Avs what a 5 on 3 is supposed to look like and Simon Gagne got an easy one. John-Michael Liles made a save on Steven Stamkos while Budaj was down and out to keep the Lightning from getting the KO goal. Greg Mauldin came very close to getting a shorthanded goal when he surprised Ellis and a Tampa defender with his speed. Ellis made a very good save on Mauldin's attempted wraparound. Shots at the end of the second, 29-16 in favor of Tampa. 

The Avs started the period with one of the nicest passing plays I've seen all season. Hejduk passed it in traffic to Kevin Shattenkirk, who seems to have an uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time, who found a wide open Paul Stastny for an easy goal. Tampa responded very well though and dominated the Avs in their own zone for the next few minutes until Quincey took another penalty. Another weak roughing call but he seems to take a lot of penalties at inopportune times. Ryan Malone scored on the power play, wristing it past Budaj's glove side after he considered passing it a few times. Budaj is so weak on his glove side! Liles got a ten minute misconduct right afterward. Not sure why. Maybe he had issue with the linesman since it looked like Tampa was offsides a bit before the goal. Sacco said it had something to do with him shooting the puck off the end boards after the goal. Too bad since the Avs really could have used him on the power play they got a couple minutes later and looked terrible on. The Lightning put the nail in the Avs coffin when Sean Bergenheim tipped in a Mike Lundin point shot.  The Avs finally did get a power play goal when Duchene made a slap pass to Yip who tipped it in. Shortly thereafter, Hejduk tipped (kicked?) in a goal from the slot, receiving a nice pass from Fleischmann who got it from a sick behind the back pass from Shattenkirk (who got credit for the goal initially somehow). Stupid Avs drawing me back in after I'd given up. The Lightning managed to keep the Avs from tying it though. Shit.

Game Notes:

• Ryan O'Reilly has become invisible. His only offensive contribution seems to be that slap shot coming down the left side (visions of Smyth). He is still good defensively but I don't know...let's hope Sacco works some magic on him. He'd probably have been scratched by now if the Avs were healthy.
  
• Matt Duchene has it going on right now but seems to have trouble sparking the rest of the team. I miss CGDS. 
  
• Kevin Shattenkirk this time has taken the lead in rookie points with 14 in 15 games.
  
• Awful game by the goaltenders. Ellis finished with .792 save percentage. Budaj was a bit better (.846) but the Avs were fucking horrible defensively.
  
• Matt Hunwick had an assist tonight but wasn't great. I'm not to fond of him yet. I'll let a few more games go before I judge, though.  
• Refs were atrocious tonight. Not what cost the Avs the game though.

• Winnik, Stastny, Hejduk
• Fleichmann, Duchene, Jones
  
• McLeod, Dupuis, Yip
  
• Porter, O'Reilly, Mauldin

• Shattenkirk, Quincey
• Liles,O'Byrne
• Hunwick, Foote

The Avs are at Florida on Tuesday. So far they've been dominated by the SE division. Which sucks.

Raw Charge

Joe Sacco switched up the lines radically for the first time this season. Matt Duchene and Paul Stastny switched right wingers and Daniel Winnik got a shot in the top six. It paid off early when the Winnik, Stastny, Milan Hejduk had some good zone time and Stastny scored on a bad angle shot. Unfortunately, Winnik got hit a little later on by a John Micheal Liles shot and crawled back to the bench. It looked like Kevin Porter took his place on the second line. The Avs were pretty good most of the period, mostly because the Wild couldn't seem to get it going. Then Ryan Wilson struck again. Not only did he turn it over at the blue line to Antti Miettinen, he then left his man, Miettinen, to try and double team Cal Clutterbuck for some reason, who shot it at Miettinen for an easy tip. Jesus F'ing Christ. The Avs got a power play near the end but couldn't capitalize on it even thought Liles got a pretty good chance. The Wild got a power play at the end of the period. Mike Haynes commented that the the Avs had killed off seven straight penalties (my god!) so of course Matt Cullen scored about three seconds in, blasting it from the point past a screened Peter Budaj. I started to remember why I hated watching Wild games last year. Luckily, it didn't last. Shots at the end of the first, 13 to 11 in favor of the Wild.

The Avs scored early in the period again. Stastny ended up on the ice with Greg Mauldin and Brandon Yip and the three went in on a 3 on 2. Stastny made a perfect pass to Mauldin who slid it five-hole on Niklas Backstrom. A really nice looking play. The Avs continued pressing when they got power play a bit later but couldn't score though they looked pretty good. They got another power play after Liles got hit away from the play on a 2 on 1 and did manage to score on this one. Chris Stewart made a very nice pass from behind the net to Hejduk for a snap shot. That broke open the flood gates. Mauldin scored very soon afterward throwing it in after Wilson shot off the end boards.  Kevin Shattenkirk scored from the top of circle with David Jones screening.  At this point, the Avs had more goals than the Wild had shots on net in the second.The Avs understandably slowed down a little bit after that and the Wild actually put a shot or two on net. Kyle Brodziak sent a weak wrister on net that squeaked by Budaj. Ugh. Perhaps the softest goal allowed by him this season. Ryan O'Byrne laid a heavy hit on which started the Minnesota bench chirping apparently. Stewart didn't take kindly to that and beat the snot out of Brodziak on his next shift. I love watching Stewart fight even though I never want him to. The Wild seemed to get the boost from it though and played very well to close out the period. Budaj had to make a very good save to keep the Wild from drawing within one. Shots on net at the end of two, 31 to 20 in favor of the Avalanche.

I only half-watched the first half of the third period (sorry, attractive girl who knew hockey was talking to me). Avs looked good from what I saw though. Jones continued putting up goals (stay healthy you bastard!) and scored in front of the net off a nice pass from Mauldin. Then Duchene and Mauldin rushed up the ice. Mauldin put a shot on net and Duchene cleaned up the rebound. That was enough for Backstrom (more than enough really) and our old friend Jose Theodore came in relief. Brodziak scored his second of the game, an easy one that came from a very nice move and pass by Martin Havlat.  Shots at the end of the game were 40 to 32 in favor of the Avs.

Game Notes:

• Shattenkirk continued to be freaking awesome with three points, putting him second third in points for a rookie defenseman. In about half the games.
  
• Mauldin had four points tonight and he earned every one. I love his game. He should certainly be a permanent figure in the Avs bottom six.
  
• Wilson continues to disappoint. He had two assists tonight but is still a mess in his own zone.
  
• Not a good game by either goalie. Budaj ended the game with an .875 save percentage and Backstrom with .816. Theodore had a two save shutout though. 
• Chris Stewart broke his hand which sucks so hard I can't even express it. This is why he should not be fighting. God damn it.

• Jones, Duchene, Stewart
• Winnik, Stastny,Hejduk
• McLeod, O'Reilly, Mauldin
  
• Porter, Dupuis,Yip

• Hannan, Quincey
• Liles, O'Byrne
  
• Shattenkirk, Wilson

Next up the Avs face off against the Atlanta Blackhawks Thrashers on Tuesday.

Hockey Wilderness

This was a nice game to watch. The Avs can score goals, friends. As long as they remain somewhat competent in their own zone, they'll be in most every game. Hopefully they'll keep up the effort in this crazy stretch of 6 games in 9 nights and put together some wins.

The first period was mostly carrried by the Avalanche. They had a lot of good forechecking work though the Blue Jackets are still a good team in the neutral zone sans Hitchcock. The Jackets got that board first with a pretty good looking goal. R.J. Umberger came down the slot but was run off by Ryan O'Byrne. He kept control of it going around the net and passed it to a wide open Nikita Filatov who centered it. John-Michael Liles couldn't stop Antoine Vermette from tipping it bast Peter Budaj. The Avalanche came right back though. Matt Duchene did what he does so well and created some havoc by stepping out quickly in front of the net and putting a hard backhand on net. Steve Mason made the save but couldn't control the rebound. Milan Hejduk corralled it near the circle and put it back towards the net. David Jones slammed it home for his fifth goal of the year. Duchene is so very good at pulling people out of position and Hejduk is an excellent match for him because of his positioning and smarts. I really enjoy watching those two playing together. Jones and Yip are very decent with them because of their goal scoring knack but they aren't playing on quite the same level as those two. Hopefully, we'll see Mueller by the New Year. I'll stop gushing now. Anyway, the end of the period saw the Avs get a four minute power play that they didn't do much with, partially because Duchene took a tripping penalty in the middle of it. Shots at the end of the first, 10 - 9 in favor of the Avs.

I dub this period the 'curse of the ex-Blue Jackets.' And also Paul Stastny. The Blue Jackets came out desperately looking for the lead. They dominated the Avs most of the period with several extended shifts with puck control in the Avs zone. But they scored three goals and the Blue Jackets had none. The first goal was by Blue Jackets draftee Greg Mauldin, a shorthanded goal and his first NHL goal. He and Jones came in on a two on one, Jones made a perfect pass to Mauldin who roofed it over Mason. The next goal, Liles carried the puck in and made a good pass to Philippe Dupuis, also a Blue Jacket's draft pick, who tipped it on net, then was run into Mason by two Jackets defensemen. Mason completely crossed the goal line and the puck went with him. Vermette had a chance to tie it up when the puck took a funny bounce off the end boards and popped out in front the Avs net. Budaj got confused and fell down leaving the net wide open for Vermette but he slapped it just wide. With only a few seconds left to go, Kevin Porter stole the puck at the blue line and passed it down to Chris Stewart who passed it to a wide open Stastny for the easy goal. Shots at the end of two, 20 to 21 in favor of the Blue Jackets. 

The third period was not as interesting as the first two. The Blue Jackets were clearly felt that they couldn't win. Maybe because they've only scored more than thee goals once this season, I don't know. They were unhappy and got a little rough with the Avs but it didn't get too bad, thankfully. Steve Mason ironically had his best period, making a few great saves including ones on Ryan O'Reilly and Stewart. Jones sneaked a goal past him with a few minutes left on a quick shot from the circle. Hell of a comeback game for him with two goals and an assist. Kevin Shattenkirk had a good game and got his first NHL point on the goal. Budaj keeps on winning and had another very good, if lucky, game. He should start tomorrow.  Shots at the end of three, 29-29.

Game Notes:

• Daniel Winnik has a shot in every game this season, the only Av other than Stewie to do such. Why did Phoenix let this guy go again?
  
• Mauldin was great in this game. He is very scrappy and laid down a couple good hits. I love that Sacco throws players out on the pk their first game.
  
• O'Byrne was not bad. He is a decent hitter but ran out of position to make one or two. I like him, though. The Avs need some grit and size back there.
  
• Colby Cohen is the other player adding size and grit. He doesn't seem to be afraid of anyone, which is awesome for a rookie. I haven't seen much offensive acumen from him yet but the Avs aren't as desperate for that.
• Porter is an interesting one. He is a great player but doesn't seem to fit anywhere. I'd rather have a Mauldin type on the energy line and while Porter handed himself well on the first line he will not be a top six or even a top nine forward when the Avs are healthy.
• I've noticed Duchene setting good picks in the defensive zone. Maybe his is learning something from his buddy Carmelo Anthony? If he can get good with those, we might see him bring that to his offensive repertoire. It's dangerous penalty-wise but effective. Just watch the Sharks play sometime.

These weren't the announced lines but they did seem to be the lines and pairing that Sacco rolled the most.

• Porter, Stastny, Stewart
• Jones, Duchene, Hejduk
• Yip, O'Reilly, Winnik
• McLeod, Dupuis, Mauldin
  

• Hannan, Cohen
• Liles, O'Byrne
  
• Holos, Shattenkirk
  

Tomorrow the Avs take on the Evil Empire in Detroit. Red Wing Dave has the recap.

The Cannon

Yikes. The Avs were beyond rusty in this game. I think this might have been the worst I've seen the Avs all year. The only reason the score wasn't worse was the fact that the Canucks showed no urgency in the last two periods and Peter Budaj was very good.

The first period started poorly. The Canucks immediately started to control the play and as is becoming all too familiar, Kyle Quincey got beat in his own zone by the ever tenacious Ryan Kesler. That created two great scoring chances for the Canucks and Budaj made two good saves. Quincey, however, took a dumb retaliatory interference penalty against Mikael Samuelsson who had knocked him into his own net a bit earlier while he was scrambling back into position after tangling with Kesler. Poor call by the ref in my opinion but a dumb move by Quincey as well. And, of course, Kesler scored on the ensuing power play. He was left alone while the Avs penalty killers watched the play unfold on the other end of the ice. T.J. Galiardi might be the most culpable on that one. Kesler fired a good shot that beat Budaj glove side. The very next shift, Cody McLeod dropped the gloves with Guillaume Desbiens and got beat pretty soundly. The Avs continued to play atrociously, forcing Joe Sacco to call a timeout. After that, the Avs started to play a bit better, especially the 3rd and 4th lines. Still, the Avs were dominated all period by the Canucks. Only Budaj and one very good play by Jonas Holos to wreck a break away chance by Alexandre Burrows kept it 1-0. Shots at the end of the first: 18-8 in favor of the Canucks, and I'm surprised the Avs got that many shots on net.

The second period started awesomely, with Chris Stewart colliding with Alexander Edler, limping off the ice and going to the locker room. Fortunately, he returned just a little while later. The Avs were pretty bad early and the Canucks got another power play when Paul Stastny hooked Tanner Glass to prevent a break away chance. Henrik Sedin scored on the power play, chipping a shot off Budaj's back.. Matt Duchene got a great chance in front of the net but Cory Schneider read him like a book and gloved his backhand shot. Then the scariness with the first line continued when Stastny got hit in the head (I think) by a John-Michael Liles shot. Like Stewart, he returned a short while later. The rest of the period was ho-hum. I found my attention wandering a lot. There were a few good chances for both teams but nothing much happened. I noticed that Sacco was mixing up lines as the period wore on. Brandon Yip took a penalty with less than a minute to go. Shots and the end of two: 29 to 20 in favor of the Canucks.

The Avs started on the PK and somehow managed to kill it off. Mostly because the Canucks weren't pressing. Kevin Shattenkirk apparently wasn't happy with this turn of events and took a delay of game penalty. Raffi Torres scored on a redirection on the power play. After this I lost my last bit of interest in the game, but I kept watching so I could so this recap. The sacrifices I make for this site... Anyway, after some fairly uninspired play by both teams, the Avs forth line finally broke through. David Van Der Gulik scored his first NHL goal, hammering it in from his knees in front of the net. The Avs pulled Budaj with nearly two minutes to go but failed to score. And looked pretty horrible doing it. Shots at the end of the game: 36 to 34 in favor of the Canucks.

Game Notes:

• Shattenkirk was okay. He drew penalty and generated a good chance on the ensuing power play. He had a couple of nice defensive plays though his delay of game penalty was annoying. He's not the answer to the Avs defensive woes but I like him better than Kyle Cumiskey...
  
• Quincey keeps making me unhappy. I don't even know what to say at this point. It's all been been said before. He's inconsistent. Seems to be lost on the play a lot. Disappointing.
  
• PK was friggin' atrocious obviously. They killed off a whopping 25% of the Canuck's power plays. The pk seems to magnify the Avs sub par defense.
  
• Ryan Wilson did not play. Was he scratched or injured? I missed that one. And if he was scratched...seriously, Sacco? Seriously? [EDIT: Wilson was a late scratch due to a leg injury]
  
• Duchene is not listening to his own advice and is doing too much out there. Sacco limited his minutes and I have to agree with him on this one.
  
• Sacco seems to be leaning on Liles quite a bit with Adam Foote out. He played 27 minutes tonight. Maybe he should get a letter until Foote is back? Just a thought.

I missed the line flashes at the beginning. I think it started like this but Sacco also mixed up the lines quite a bit. I'm not sure about the defensive pairings. 

• Galiardi, Stastny, Stewart
• Jones, Duchene,Hejduk
• Yip, O'Reilly, Winnik
• McLeod, Dupuis,Van Der Gulik
  

• Hannan, Quincey
• Liles,Shattenkirk
• Liffiton, Holos
  

The Avalanche take on the Stars on Saturday. Let's hope they can muster a better effort than tonight's.

Nucks Misconduct

The first period started out pretty chippy. Matt Gilroy had a solid hit on Cody McLeod and Marc Staal had a nasty hit on Stewart. Artem Anisimov took the heat for that and was slammed separately by Adam Foote and a little later by Stewart. Chris Stewart and Brandon Prust went after each other and recieved matching minors but nothing came of the 4 on 4. The Avs were good early and generated quite a few chances, outshooting the Rangers 12-3 twelve minutes in but Henrik Lundqvist was good and the puck was bouncy. Then they went on the power play and shock! they scored. Stewart tipped a John-Michael Liles shot. Jonas Holos was on point which let Liles sneak down a bit to the top of the circle. Until Mueller comes back, if he ever does, Holos needs to suit up just because of what he brings to the power play. John Tortorella called a timeout and the Rangers started to play hockey, earning a power play and getting some chances. The Rangers' Alex Frolov scored on a two on one while Kyle Quincey went down to try and block the pass, failed and slammed into Craig Anderson. I'm not sure Andy could have done anything, Quincey running into him or no, but...if some dman has to sit for Holos I think Quincey is at the top of my list. Shots at the end of one were 17-12 in favor of the Avs. 

Rangers came out with a little more fire in the second than the Avalanche but the Avs had the best chance early when Milan Hejduk got the puck off a rebound, alone and right in front of Lunqvist. But King Henry made a hell of save. Apperantly the Rangers drew inspiration from that, hemmed the Avs in their own zone the next shift and Sean Avery drew a penalty. Shortly after killing that, Paul Stastny whacked Staal in the face and went to the box. The Rangers got some good looks on both power plays but didn't manage to convert. Ranger and Avs traded chances the rest of the way through with both Lundqvist and Andy making some saves - Andy's best was probably off of his own giveaway to Brandon Dubinsky. The game stayed a little nasty as well. T.J. Galiardi seemed to be getting a little rough to counteract the pests on the Rangers. The Rangers were the better team in the second. Shots at the end of the second: 25-22 in favor of the Avalanche.

The third started by Anisimov undressing Foote and almost scoring. Then Gali went the other way on a break away. Lundqvist saved it but Quicey slammed into him, knocking the puck in. It was waved off because of contact with the goalie, no penalty. The Avs did score a little later though. Stewart again and on the power play again! Yay for Holos! On this particular goal though it was a sweet pass from Stastny from behind the goal line that set up Stewart. On the next shift, the puck bounced through Lundqvist's crease and Daniel Winnik out hustled everyone to get to it and tap it in for his second of the year. Predictably, the Avs started to spend a lot of time in their own zone during the last half of the third but I thought they were decent defensively. The Rangers had Lundqvist pulled for nearly two minutes but the Avs couldn't score an empty netter. Is it me or are the Avs pretty bad at that? Shots at the end of the third: 34-32 in favor of the Avs.

Game Notes:

• Holos was good again I thought. He is very good offensively and while he still a little iffy defensively, he isn't appreciably worse than the rest of the Avs defense. I doubt he will be scratched any time in the near future. Like I said, Quincey is who I think should sit but I am also okay with dressing seven.
  
• Hejduk seemed to break out of his funk a bit with two assists and a couple of good scoring chances.
  
• The Avs had a good night on face-offs, winning 60%.
  
• Special teams were the difference in this game. The Avs scored two power play goals on two chances and killed of five penalties.  
• Frolov got the 3rd star for the Rangers but I thought that Dubinsky was the best Rangers skater. 

Lines were a little strange tonight because seven defensemen were dressed. It seemed like Holos, Cumiskey and Foote were working alternating shifts together with all of them getting a lot of ice time, Cumiskey led with 20:20.

• Galiardi, Stastny, Stewart
• Jones, Duchene, Hejduk
• McLeod, O'Reilly, Winnik
• Porter, Dupuis
  

• Hannan, Quincey
• Liles, Wilson
• Cumiskey, Foote, Holos
  

The next game is on Thursday vs. the San Jose Sharks. The Avs are back at home but, of course, you already know that because it is the Mile High Hockey vs. The Avalanche Guild!

Check the Blueshirt Banter for their take.

Well, this one wasn't very pleasant. It was a much more even game than the one against the Devils but the breaks went the other way this time. Disappointing game but let's dive in.

5 seconds into the first, Chris Stewart dropped the gloves with thug extraordinaire Zenon Konopka. Not sure what that was all about but they were jawing at each other during warmups. I'm guessing that Stewie was, uh, stewing over last night's game. Still, he should be careful about dropping the gloves with professional goons, especially if it's not for the purposes of defending a teammate. Those hands are are too valuable! Anyway, the rest of the period was pretty fun to watch. Both teams were skating well and a lot of 'north - south' play. I thought the Avalanche held the advantage through most of the period but the Islanders got quite a few  a good chances - especially on the powerplay where Craig Anderson came up big.

The second period started with more of the same style of play and again it seemed like the ice was tilted in the Avs direction. They had two good chances where the puck hit the boards behind Dwayne Roloson and bounced down in front of the net giving Paul Stastny and Philippe Dupuis open nets but the puck also bounced over their sticks. Then things went to hell. The Avs gave up another shorthanded goal (bringing their total to 3 basically 4) although this one wasn't as awful as the others. Milan Jurcina got it off a clean faceoff win and blasted it through right as a 4 on 4 ended. Jucina scored again on a good shift for the Islanders that got the Avs running around in their zone. Anderson got turned around and let a bad angle shot sneak through. Then Kyle Quincey got whistled for hitting John Tavares. Taveras was falling so Quincey hit him in the head but Quincey was throwing a hit at the puck carrier and not aiming at the head. It wasn't blindside either. The Islanders went on the powerplay and Josh Bailey scored an easy one. Quincey got whistled again for goaltender interference even though he didn't run the goalie and just pushed a defender who was on him out of the way. Joe Sacco unsurprisingly had words with the refs after the period.

Quincey's penalty  carried over to the third but the Avs killed it off with no real problems. Chris Stewart blasted home another slapper for his third goal of the season, giving the Avs some life at the beginning of the third. Then it was taken away when Michael Grabner and P.A. Parenteau converted on a two on one. It looked like Anderson had Grabner's shot but in snuck through. The Avs scored again when Mark Olver sent a sweet centering feed to T.J. Galiardi who knocked  in his own rebound. Then more penalties on the Avs. Stewart almost scored on a sweet move after Matt Duchene made a sweet move to get him the puck. Roloson was good all night. The Avs made an effort to tie it up but without luck. For salt in the wound, John bloody Tavares potted an empty netter. The Avs outshot the Islanders 30 to 25 and I thought played a better game than last night. Oh, well, them's the breaks I guess.

A couple more notes:

In the John Tavares vs. Matt Duchene battle I thought that Duchene had a better all around game then Tavares but Duchene's point streak came to an end and Tavares scored a goal. Lame.

Jonas Holos played his first game and I thought he was okay. He was good offensively, especially on the powerplay, and a couple nice blue line keep-ins. Defensively he got caught running around, had problems clearing the puck and gave it away a couple of times. Par for the course for the Avalanche defense in other words. Sacco seemed to trust him though and he got 23:57 worth of ice time, more than any other player.

John-Michael Liles was also pretty good, somehow escaping from this abysmal game on the plus side of things. He got another assist on Stewart's goal which gives him a league leading seven on the year. 

I don't usually hate on  officials but I am not fond of Stephane Auger, who reffed both last night's game and this one. When I get mad enough to check to see who the referees are, Auger's name pops up more often than not. He was also the man behind Burrowes and Doan controversies. I don't think I've disliked a ref this much since Paul Devorski.

The headline is a play off the atrocious ad by the Isles for this game. Puck Daddy had it up.

Rangers are up next. Hopefully the Avs can beat them and make this road trip a success.

Just got back from the Burgundy and White game which was pretty entertaining. Nothing guys desperatley trying to make there mark to jazz up a scrimmage. As the outcome of the game really makes no difference I won't recap it like I would a normal season game. Instead I'll just have a random collection of thoughts for your enjoyment.

First thing I noticed was that the Peter Mueller, Matt Duchene, Milan Hejduk line looked great. Those guys seem to know each other like they grew up playing together or something. Mueller and Hejduk both looked completely recovered from their injuries to me. Duchene was getting a little physical out there, getting nasty with both Joel Chouinard and Adam Foote. In fact, he had two confrontations with the Old Man. Problems at home maybe? He also completely undressed Trevor Cann in the shootout, which was pretty awesome.

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Man, am I getting antsy for hockey. Pre-season seems so close yet so far away. Luckily, we have the release of everyone's favorite hockey game to make the next couple of weeks a little more bearable. I got my copy on Tuesday and between school and work I've managed to squeeze in a little playing time, so I thought I'd share what I thought on the improvements to the game and also how the game treats the Avs and their young guns.

Be A Pro is largely the same though I do appreciate the slight tweaks in presentation. The fact that you start out on a CHL team going after the Memorial Cup is pretty cool as well. I started on Matt Duchene's old team, the Brampton Battalion, and popped in a few goals and threw a few hits before we lost in the semi-finals. Accordingly, I was drafted in the first round by the Phoenix Coyotes and am now lucky enough to play on Wojtek Wolski's line. The on-ice improvements are interesting. The new hit engine is a little more realistic in some ways but now I seem to be completely taken out of the play if a defenseman even lands a glancing check. Maybe my character just sucks right now? For some reason, everything seems to be moving a bit slower than in NHL 10. The faceoff engine was very cool at first but kind of wears on you after a while. So far no broken sticks but I did have a goal waved off. I got to scream 'there was no kicking motion god damn it!' a month early this year.

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Right now the league is holding a research and development camp to find new ways to ruin...excuse me, 'improve' the sport that we love so much. I'm sure most of you have already read about this but I figured it be a semi-interesting topic to talk about with yet another week of nothing going on around the Avalanche (to be honest I'm paying way more attention to the Nuggets and the Carmelo Crisis right now). I haven't looked to all the proposed rule changes because I'm lazy but here are a few that seem interesting to me.

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Every season there is a debate about whether it's smart to have a workhorse goalie. Some of the best goaltenders in the league (Martin Brodeur, Miikka Kiprusoff, Evgeni Nabokov, Henrik Lundqvist, etc.) routinely start upwards of 70 games a year. Most of these teams are fairly successful (even the Rangers have made it to the playoffs every season except last since the lockout) but none of those goalies have won a Cup since the lockout. In fact, none of them have even been in a Stanley Cup final. Sure there could be reasons other than fatigue for the lack of playoff success. Brodeur is old, Nabokov has a rep for not being a big game goalie and Lundqvist is on a extremely mediocre team. So to back up my conclusion I decided to take a look at goalies, after the lockout, who started 80% or more of their teams' games and how they fared in the playoffs or if they even made it.

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With the return of old man Adam Foote, we unfortunately don't get to spend the summer debating who should be the next captain of the Colorado Avalanche. In fact, it will be very surprising if Paul Stastny and Milan Hejduk don't retain the A's on their jerseys as well. But, hell, speculating on how the the Avs are going to meet the cap floor is getting to be pretty mind-numbingly boring, so let's take a look at the leaders of this club anyway. 

Long time assistant captain Adam Foote took his well-deserved place as captain last season. Footer doesn't really seem to fit in with the team identity of speed and puck-pressure that allowed the Avs to be successful (though the collapsing defense of the entire defensive corps didn't really fit) but his smarts allowed him to stay in the play. From a team perspective, I wasn't exactly jumping for joy when he decided to stay on another year. But from a leadership perspective, how could I be less than thrilled? You know that he is gonna challenge the young guns to be at their best each and every night and I'm sure the plethora of young defensemen will be lucky to have him as a mentor. On the ice he also adds a bit of snarl that I feel is in short supply, especially on defense. Stewart is tough and Gali was nasty in the playoffs but Cody McLeod pulled a disappearing act during much of the season and Tucker and Koci were/are useless.  So, with no heir-apparent for captain and no one to replace his role on the blueline, I'd rather have the shadow of Adam Foote than no Adam Foote at all.

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via www.underconsideration.com

Perusing the various mock drafts, I noticed that most every one had the Avalanche drafting a different player in the first round (the pick is number 17 though some have the Avs picking 19 due to the date of the mock draft) so I thought it would be interesting to compare the potential picks. So without further ado...

via cdn.nhl.com

The Hockey Writers have the Avs picking up Dylan McIlrath in the first round. McIlrath played 118 games with Moose Jaw in the WHL, racking up 8 goals, 20 assists and an impressive 271 penalty minutes. At 18 he is already very big at 6'4'' and 212 pounds. Scouts state the obvious in that he is scary and tough to play against but also discuss his untapped potential on the offensive side of the game. Personally, that doesn't matter much to me as the Avs have a ton of dmen with offensive upside but no huge, shutdown defensemen like McIlrath. I think there is a solid chance of the Avs picking him up if he is still available. The only problem is that plenty of mock drafts have McIIrath going to Anaheim a pick before Colorado's. If he is still available the Avs need to snatch him up without a second thought.

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In the 1992-93 season the Quebec Nordiques made a startling turnaround by making the playoffs after having the second -worst record in the league the previous season. Sound familiar? And just like our Avs the Nords were very, very young. In fact, they were even younger than the Avs with no major players over the age of thirty. Obviously, the 1995-96 Avs went on to win the Stanley Cup, so I thought it might be productive to look at the two intervening seasons and the changing shape of the team.

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The Chicago Blackhawks have steamrolled their way through the Western Conference this season and look to be unstoppable on their way to a Cup. The Blackhawks have done this despite only having two super high draft picks (Jonathan Toews (3) and Patrick Kane (1) ) making them more akin to the Avalanche than say the Pens ( two 1st picks and two 2nd picks in four years). Like the Avs, many of their better players came from lower rounds (Dave Bolland, Dustin Byfuglien, Duncan Keith and I'd make a crack about Craig Anderson if Antti Niemi wasn't so f*cking good) so the Hawks are a good example of how to build a contender through the draft. Here are a few lessons the Avs could stand to learn from them:

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via assets.sbnation.com

GP: 81  G: 8  A: 18  P: 26  PIM: 18  TOI/G: 16:45  H: 37  FO%: 47.8

Ryan O'Reilly was the Avs other magical 18 year-old who helped suddenly change center from the Avs weakest position to its strongest. Radar certainly hit a wall offensively after actually leading Matt Duchene in points early in the season. However, where he really shined was in the defensive zone. He ate up time on the pk and wound up being the go to guy for defensive zone faceoffs throughout much of the season, though his face off percentage wasn't exactly glowing. A glowing stat is the fact that he had 69 takeaways, tying him for 8th overall in the league with Jonathan Toews. Like Galiardi, O'Reilly seemed to turn it on when the team was playing its worst but it rarely translated into points. He is just 19, though, so hopefully he is just going to get better and better. 

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GP: 81  G:24  A: 31  P:55  PIM: 16  TOI/G: 17:43  FO%: 44.0  H: 51

Matt Duchene was excellent this year. He jumped straight from juniors at eighteen and filled the Avs desperate need for a second line center. Through the middle of the season he was absolutely brilliant, scoring most of his 24 goals and showing he could be dominant. Unfortunately, he also went through two streaks where he couldn't score a goal to save his life and one of those was during the late season stretch and playoffs when the team desperately needed him to contribute. Even when he isn't scoring, though, he always creates chances with his speed and puck handling abilities. He started off the season struggling defensively but got better as the season wore on. He had 64 takeaways, good for 2nd on the team and 12th overall in the league. Duchene has the ability and the intelligence to become a Datsyuk-like dominant center in this league.

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Coach Joe Sacco and staff:

Joe Sacco accomplished something amazing this season: he took a team that finished in last place and coached them into the playoffs in his rookie year. Yes he had a very different team from last year, but that his success this season really is astounding. He seems to have a particular talent for getting young players to play well and recognizing when lines needed to be kept together despite not scoring much and when to break them apart. The best thing about Sacco, though, was his willingness to trust rookies in important situations time and time again. On the con side of things, my only serious problem through the season was the goaltender situation. Craig Anderson was played too much even though Peter Budaj was an excellent backup. There is no doubt that cause some of the Avs problems down the stretch. I also got pretty sick of him scratching John-Michael Liles but when Liles was great during the last few games and the playoffs, credit to Sacco for playing him. Still though, the Wheel of D issue did get a little frustrating. Still though, despite various issues on special teams and problems holding on to leads, Sacco had a game plan and a team identity that he wanted to create and that was very refreshing to see.

Final Grade:

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